Electeio aeg lamp



(No Model.)

F. JEHL.

ELECTRIC ARG LAMP. No. 549,132. Patented Nov. 5, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS JEHL, OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA-I-IUNGARY, ASSIGN OR TO F. HARDT- MUTH d5 CO., OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC-ARC LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,132, dated November 5, 1895.

Application filed May l2, 1894. Serial No. 510,994:x (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS J EHL, a citi-I zen of the United States, residing at Vienna, in the Province of Lower Austria, in the Empire of Austria-Hungary, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Arc Lamps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to thel accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention has relation to electric-arc lamps, and more particularly to the means employed for increasing` the duration or life of the upper carbon.

It is well known that the disintegration or wear of the carbons of electric-arc lights at and beyond or outside of the zone of combustion is not due so much to actual combustion and to the intense heat developed as to the combined effects of heat and currents of air flowing along the carbons.

Many devices have been proposed to shield the carbons against this combined effect or action. These means have heretofore been chiefly directed to the inclosing of the carbon ends in a solid body, as a sleeve, tip, or shield of refractory material applied to the carbon, so as to prevent a draft of air along the same, and in some instances the devices have been used as or combined with heat-radiators or heat-dispersers. The chief inconvenience in the use of such devices lies in the fact that they must necessarily be located in close proximity to the arc or zone of combustion, where the heat is most intense, and are rapidly disintegrated, so as to become practically useless within a comparatively-short time. On the other hand, in view of the fact that these devices become intensely heated themselves unless they are constructed of a non incandcscible material, they become themselves more or less incandescent and tend to destroy the carbon upon which they are tightly fitted. I have discovered that .these difficulties are effectually overcome when the carbon in the vicinity of the arc is surrounded by a substantially-quiescent gaseous body, which during the operation of the light soon becomes heated and thereafter rcmains at a practically-constant temperature, and that this heated quiescent gaseous body not only prevents the wear of the cylindrical carbon end into a cone, but also eifectually protects the walls that confine the said gaseous body against the action of the intense heat generated at the are.

Instead of wearing or consuming peripherally and forming a cone, the consumption or wear of the upper carbon is uniform over the entire cross-sectional area of the end of the carbon, which thus always presents a flat sur- 6 3 face to the lower carbon, the intensity of the light being correspondingly increased.

Of course it will be understood that the gaseous body must be of sufficient depth to afford the necessary protect-ion to the carbon 7o and the envelope for such gaseous body, and in practice this depth should be approximately equal to or greater than the diameter of said carbon. The uniformly flat and slow combustion of the carbon results, however, in 7 5 other important advantages-namely, in a material increase in the surfcae that affords passage to the electric current as compared with a mere point, giving out a considerablyincreased mass of rays of light, and inasmuch 8o as said surface is horizontal and of considerably-greater diameter than the light-emitting point of the lower carbon said surface partakes of the function of a reflector, in that all of the rays of light are emitted therefrom in a downward direction. This has for natural sequence the prevention of the radially-disseminated high temperatures to which the gaseous envelope and its inclosing walls would otherwise be subjected, and to which 9o the hoods, caps, tips, deflectors, dac., heretofore used aresubjected.

My invention consists, therefore, in surrounding the lower end of the upper carbon of an arc light with a substantially-quiescent gaseous body of a practically-constant temperature and of sufficient cross sectional area and depth, the latter in practice being approximately equal to or greater than the diameter of the carbon, and in means for disroo placing the body in accordance with the consumption of the carbon, as will now be fully described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a sectional elevation of a protector for the upper carbon of electric lights in which the proper relations between the end of the carbon, or more properly the arc, and the protector are controlled by the lower carbon; and Fig. 2 is a like view in which the protector is supported by the lower carbon itself for the purpose of maintaining the proper relation between said protector and the end of its carbon or the arc.

The protector consists, essentially, of a sleeve a, fitted to the upper carbon k sufficiently snugly to prevent air passing between the two-that is to say, the sleeve is iitted airtight on the carbon-and is held thereon against displacement under its own weight or under the latter and that of elements connected therewith by plate-springs g g, secured to said sleeve a, which is provided with a throat or reduced portion forming a seat for a packing-ring, and also forming a circular flange around its upper end that seats on a ring c, provided with radial arms C?, that are perforated for the passage of the legs of a yoke f, the ring c, consequently the sleeve c, be-

ing held in a desired or proper position relatively to the end of the carbon and the arc by means of adj listing-nuts d and lock-nuts d. The yoke f has a ring f of slightly-greater interior diameter than the cone point of the lower carbon k', through which ring the said cone point projects when the arc is formed or established-a. c., when the carbons are focused.

The lower portion of the sleeve a is of increased interior diameter, so as to form a dead-air chamber about the lower end of the upper carbon 7a, and the said sleeve may be constructed of any desired material that is sufiiciently refractory to withstand the heat to which it is exposed-as, for instance, steatite or a similar non-conductive refractory material; or said sleeve may be constructed of a refractory conductive material, in which case it will become necessary to properly insulate the saine from the carbon 7a.

It is evident that with the construction and arrangement of devices the sleeve a can be readily adjusted on carbon 7c relatively to the are and will be maintained in that position automatically, as follows: The are being established, the upper carbon as combustion proceds is fed toward the lower carbon by the wellknown feed mechanism, thereby also lowering the protector-sleeve c until the ring j seats on the lower carbon 7d, when the said sleeve a is moved vertically on the upper carbon 7c the required distance to bring it again in proper position relatively to the arc, the ring performing the function of an abutment that impinges upon the lower carbon.

By means of the described construction of protector and the means for positioning the same relatively to the arc the lower end of said carbon is, for purposes hereinbefore stated, at all times surrounded by a substantially-quiescent gaseous body the temperature of which is practically constant during the operation of the light. rIhe said gaseous body forms, so to say, an elastic cushion or jacket about the arc end of the upper carbon that not only prevents said end from assuming the usual conical form, but also prevents the deterioration or deformation of the protectorsleeve a, thereby materially increasing the durability of both, the said quiescent or stagnant gaseous body or cushion being of a depth approximately equal to the diameter of the carbon, as shown in Fig. l.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a slight modification of construction, in that the protector is wholly supported from the lower carbon and will therefore descend with the upper carbon at a rate proportionate to the rate of combustion. To this end the arms of t-he yoke f are secured to a sleeve 7L, that is not tightly fitted on the lower carbon, said sleeve carrying a suspension-ring 7i', that fits the cone point of the lower carbon 71:', so that the yoke will descend by gravity as the combustion of the said lower carbon proceeds. The sleeve thus performs the function of a protector for the lower carbon, and the said sleeve may be threaded internally for the reception of an externally-threaded nut 7b2, whereby the yoke f may be adjusted vertically and with it the protector-sleeve a for the upper carbon, thus affording' an additional means of adjustment.

Instead of utilizing the sleeve a as a protector-sleeve it may be used as a bushing for such protector-sleeve, as shown in Fig. 2, and also as an insulator when a metallic protectorsleeve CL2 is used, as shown in Fig. 2, c being an outer flanged sleeve of a non-conducting material iitted in and supported by the ring c above described.,

d d indicate the adjusting-nuts whereby the sleeve a2 is adjusted vertically on the legs of the yoke f, and, if desired, lock-nuts d', as shown in Fig. l, may also be used to iirmly connect the ring with the yoke.

In the construction seen in Fig. 2 I have shown the air or gas chamber of a depth greater than the diameter of the carbon.

The construction of devices shown in Fig. l has, however, an advantage over that shown in Fig. 2 in that the said devices will remain connected with the upper carbon should the lower carbon break, in view of the fact that they are held on said carbon by the action of the springs g.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a carbon electrode of an are lamp, of a quiescent or stagnant gaseous envelope surrounding and extending along said carbon to the point or face from IOO IIO

IZO

which the are emanates, for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a carbon electrode of an arc lamp, of a quiescent or stagnant gaseous envelope surrounding and extending along said carbon to the point or face from which the arc emanates, and means for displacing the said gaseous body in accordance with the consumption of the carbon, for t-he purpose set forth.

The combination with a carbon electrode of an arc lamp, of a quiescent or stagnant gaseous body of suitable cross sectional area and of a depth substantially equal to or greater than the cross sectional area of said carbon, surrounding and extending along the same to the point orface from which the arc emana-tes, for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination with a carbon electrode of an arc lamp7 of a sleeve movable thereon and having its open outer end of greater diameter than said carbon and of suitable depth, the enlarged portion of said sleeve extending to the point or face of the carbon from which the arc emanates, for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination with a carbon electrode of an arc lamp, of a sleeve movable thereon and having its open outer end of greater diameter than said carbon and of suitable depth, the enlarged portion of said sleeve extending to the point or face of the carbon from which the arc emanates, and means for displacing the sleeve in accordance with the consumption of the carbon, for the purposes set forth.

G. The combination with the upper and lower carbons of an arc lamp, of a sleeve on the upper carbon having its open outer end of greater diameter than said carbon and of suitable depth, said enlarged portion of the sleeve extending to the point or face of the carbon from which the arc emanates, and adjusting devices for adjusting the length of the`\,\

are, for the purposes set forth.

7. The combination with the upper and lower carbons of an arc lamp, of a sleeve on the upper carbon having its open outer end of greater diameter than said carbon and of suitable depth, said enlarged portion of the sleeve extending to the point or face of the carbon from which the arc emanates, means for displacing the sleeve in accordance with the consumption of the carbon, and adjusting devices for adjusting the length of the arc, for the purposes set forth.

8. The combination with the upper carbon of an arc light, a sleeve thereon having a lower portion of increased diameter to form a chamber about the lower end of the carbon, the lower edge of said chamber being substantially flush with the llike edge of the car bon, and arms projecting from opposite sides of the sleeve, of the lower carbon, a yoke supported therefrom having its uprights screwthreaded and passing through the arms on the aforesaid sleeve, and suitable supporting and adjusting nuts on said uprights, for the purpose lset forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANCIS JEHL. lVitnesses:

F. BELMONT, J osnr ZEHETNER. 

